Reference

Early parenting

Reference

Types of formula

If you choose to bottle feed your baby from birth, you will need to find out if the hospital will provide your formula. Hospital policies in recent years tend to encourage the woman to supply her own feeding equipment and formula. This is aimed at not promoting a particular brand of formula and facilitating the mother to learn how to prepare the milk correctly and sterilise her equipment, before she goes home (as well as promoting breastfeeding). Regardless of whether your hospital does this or not, you will need to have your formula, bottles teats ready for when you go home.

Don't be concerned if the formula brand your baby is first given in the hospital is not the one you have chosen during the pregnancy. Most hospitals are supplied with a different brand each month (reflecting that one brand is not better than another). Changing brands is not an issue for your baby and changing the type of formula will rarely make a baby unsettled or colicky, nor will it fix this behaviour (unless the change just happens to coincide with your baby growing out of this unsettled phase!)

There are many commercial brands of formula available. All infant formulas sold in Australia (that are specially designed for newborn babies) must comply with quality control standards by law, and should be labelled as 'suitable from birth'. These are appropriate for babies up to 12 months of age. The cost of the formula does not reflect the quality of the formula and buying your formula at the supermarket may be cheaper than the local chemist, so it may pay to shop around.